> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Banksy Debbie-Downers The Queen's Diamond Jubilee
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/banksy-debbie-downers-the-queens-diamond-jubilee/
- Published: 2012-05-24T20:58:37.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:19:08.000Z
- Description: Banksy is celebrating Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee with a bit of art.
- Author: Cat Weaver
- Tags: Opinion, Banksy, Queen Elizabeth II, Street Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:51 (2012, 2013, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/05/banksypoundshopjubilee1.jpg)

Banksy's tribute: a tot producing bunting for the Diamond Jubilee? (photo by Daniel Hack)

The Royal Collection will hold [exhibitions at Buckingham Palace](http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/Features/DG%5FWP200687?ref=hyperallergic.com), Windsor Castle, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. And The National Portrait Gallery will stage *The Queen: Art and Image*, a touring exhibition of images of the Queen, while The Victoria and Albert Museum held an [exhibition of portraits](http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/cecilbeaton/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of The Queen by photographer Cecil Beaton that will tour around the UK.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/05/qdj_english_coated_cmyk-320.jpg)

10-year-old Katherine Dewar's design for the Jubilee emblem was chosen after a national competition. (via thediamondjubilee.org)

The whole UK is celebrating the Queen’s 60 year reign with the only diamond jubilee since that of Queen Victoria in 1897.

Meanwhile on the street, Banksy, too, is celebrating Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II’s [Diamond Jubilee](http://www.thediamondjubilee.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) with a bit of art as well — tacked onto he front of a local pound shop in Woodgreen.

Classing up the joint at 51 High Road in London, [Poundland](http://www.poundland.co.uk/?ref=hyperallergic.com)‘s facade now sports an image depicting the slave labor that goes into making the sort of cheap jubilee merchandise that sells in chains like theirs for a pound per item.

[BritRail London](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/britrail-celebrates-the-queens-diamond-jubilee-with-a-royal-promotion-2012-05-24?ref=hyperallergic.com) is giving out an extra day on their Plus Pass, [The President of the Maldives](http://minivannews.com/politics/president-waheed-accepts-invitation-to-attend-queens-diamond-jubilee-luncheon-37948?ref=hyperallergic.com) is invited to a Jubilee Luncheon, [Kate Middleton](http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/307278-kate-middleton-super-excited-for-queens-diamond-jubilee-concert/?ref=hyperallergic.com) is “super excited” and [the Queen enjoys record support.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/24/queen-diamond-jubilee-record-support?newsfeed=true&ref=hyperallergic.com)

But [Prince Charles](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/9283958/Queens-Diamond-Jubilee-Prince-Charles-turns-DJ.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), despite playing DJ and learning “how to scratch and fade a record at an employment skills workshop in Toronto during his four-day trip to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee,” is more unpopular than ever.

Daniel Hack, a London local and Brooklyn ex-pat, put it this way:

“She’s the longest reigning monarch since Victoria and will probably carry on further … Nobody wants Charles in and William is still too whatever … so it’s a celebration of her hanging on … ”

The work, that hasn’t officially been acknowledged as a Banksy yet (since it hasn’t appeared on Banksy’s official websitem, though it is on [his tumblelog](http://realbanksy.tumblr.com/post/23096787641/this-is-a-brand-new-piece-just-off-turnpike-lane?ref=hyperallergic.com)), popped up on May 14 but it is already behind protective Plexiglas. For images of the work pre-Plexi visit [*The Daily Mail*](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2144677/Banksy-Diamond-Jubilee-graffiti-sweatshop-boy-appears-overnight-Poundland-wall.html?ref=hyperallergic.com).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/05/poundland1-640.jpg)

Poundland's "Let's Celebrate!" Look Book (via poundland.co.uk)